Fifth Sunday of the Great Lent. the Venerable
Mary of Egypt
The Fifith week and the fifth Sunday of Lent is preparation for the
Holy Week (right before Eastern).
In the Gospel readings on the fifth Sunday it's being told how God
on his way for Jerusalem revealed for a time to his deciples (The
Holy Apostles), that his way is the way of the cross, the suffering
and death and that the high-priest and the jewish scripture
interpreters will betray him, will violate him spit at him, beat
him and crucify him and most importantly that he will be Risen on
the third day.
The pupils has been terified walking with him on the way to
Jerusalem and haven't really understood the Lord's prophetic
words.
The mother of John and Jacob for example asked the Lord that her
sons be allowed to sit on his right and on left side of the Lord's
throne, without knowing like the rest of the desciples that the
Lord's way of unbelievable suffering, which the desciples
comprehends a bit later.
The cross's road of suffering is a predetermined path not only for
Christ's desc iples but for the whole Orthodox Church in general
and for all the believers in Christ's name.
God does alone has carried out suffering for the human sin and
sinfulness and bears it together with man entering and changing
human's history and completing his redemption for us on the
cross.
On this land a man without a revelation of God, never could
understand that God is love, that God is good, even if they are
already talking about two thousand years all the saints and Fathers
of our Church.
God is love and sacrifice himself for man, so our suffering is
noble by his feat, carried out for good, because the truth because
of the transfiguration of man. His sacrifice is the noblest
sacrifice of this world.
But in essense as many ordinary people say in the suffering there
is nothing good and noble. The sufferings however after Christ's
sacrifice in his "house-building" plan to transfigurate the man's
personality does prooved miraculous for many Christians throughout
the centuries.
A very light example of such a transfiguration of the human's
personality (soul) can be clearly seen in the example of saint Mary
of Egypt's living whose memory do celebrate in the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church today (in the Fifth Sunday of the great
Lent).
St. Mary of Egypt has lead a very unusual way of living, which is
really striking to be comprehend even for us the modern
Christians.
Her living is a God's omen for all generations of Christians and is
in clearly distinctive with ours.
As we can read in short in her living, from a very rich and
prosperous prostitute touched by Christ's love after entering an
Orthodox temple by the Mercy and the great prayers of the Theotokos
(Virgin Mary) she has decided to loose all earthly preasures and
all the old unrightous way of living and start living a saint
hermit life in the desert, she has fought the devil's temptations
and the consequences of sin and God's wrath for the sinful way of
live she has lead for so monay ears before she has turned to Christ
in humility in about 25 years alone in the desert!
That's clearly a God's great miracle and faith simulator we should
thanks God for ..
Her living is a very bright example that we should not despair
ourselves about our salvation, and that God takes care for everyone
who puts his faith in him and decides consciously to let behind his
sinful way of living and evil and starts fighting with it.
God grants us our earthly living and waits throughout our whole
earthly live for us to turn back from our sins and change for
good.
St. Mary of Egypt is a great example for us who belief in Christ
today about how much a repentance could work out in our
lives.
From one of the greatest city sinners she has turned into a saint
by repenting for her previous sinful life for 25 years.
After the end of her great trial period in the desert, seeing her
great repentance God has granted us all the gifts of healing and
miraculness of the Holy Spirit.
I would not stop into details of the great saint's living I'll just
say it's worthy to check her living in
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Sunday_of_St._Mary_of_Egypt and be
seriously astonished!
Let us take st. Mary of Egypt for a leading example in our lives
and hope that God will have mercy on us and grant us her humbleness
and repentance for our great sins we stand in daily ..
Save us Oh Lord by the prayers Saint Mary of Egypt!